Believers All Begin to Die
by Katie Coleman
Summary: A story of survival in Killjoy-esque America.
1. Part One

"_Listen. Thump, thump, thump. Can you hear that? My blessed little heart is –" _

The sound waves mumbled out of existence as the radio tipped backward, disturbing a heavy layer of dust that had learnt to call the bench top below it home. He drew his fist away from it, satisfied that he had come between the air waves and their audience, and slumped back in his chair.

"_Really_?" Danger raised an eyebrow, though with less annoyance in her voice than curiosity.

"Oh, come on, you know it's all Living Industries bullshit now, anyway."

She let her brow fall and flexed her shoulders out backward. Maybe he'd had a point – she'd been cramped up in there too long to know what was real world and what was 'Bloody Living Industries' propaganda anymore, anyway.

"Screw you, Kev," Caitlin shot, squaring her shoulders as she strode back into the bar's main room. "I was listening to that."

"You weren't even in the room – "

"Kids, we're in _hiding_. Mind not kill each other?" Danger sighed. "Seeing as I'd be the one who had to clean up your messy corpses, anyway."

Caitlin shrugged and sidled up to lean on the bar beside the other two. She grabbed a handful of plain, out of date chip crumbs from a brown plastic bowl on the bar top, "I see I missed lunch."

"What took so long anyway? You were only supposed to walk the east boundary – "

Caitlin shrugged again, popping a crumbling chip into her mouth. She chewed it slowly and swallowed it before answering, "Found some dracs."

"Kill them?" Danger asked, though she knew the answer.

"Easy as pie."

"Anyone follow you back here?" Kev asked boredly.

"We're practically in the middle of the desert," she dusted her greasy hands on her black jeans. "What do you think?" she waited a moment. "So what's on for the rest of the day?"

"I thought we'd play a little scrabble and finish with a nice roast dinner, courtesy of Bloody Living Industries," he told her sarcastically.

"Also known as the same as we did yesterday, and the day before." Danger answered slowly, letting the opportunity to tell everyone off slide, even though she'd have enjoyed it.

"Hiding is so much fun."

Outside, the air was hot and still. The desert had a way of making every day feel that way. Even if this wasn't really the desert – zone three was dry, but sometimes it rained, and a few native trees had managed to grow around the bar where the parking lot once might have been.

Through the computer's binocular eyes, these were large grey lumps of leaves and dust, providing a wonderful place to position oneself, but a hindrance to the eye. Zach tucked himself back down in the bush, numb as it's pines dug holes in his calves. Inside, there was little movement – a girl reach for something on a table top, and moments before that a large square object had toppled down, but that was all he'd seen.

He rubbed the skin on his forearms which was slowly peeling back to reveal the layer of flesh covering his bone, and glanced over at his accomplice in the treetop a few yards away from the building. The General had decided to send them all out in pairs after – well, that _one_ time – which was, if you asked him (even though no one ever did) ridiculous, because he was more than capable of handling himself. One measly set of three "baddies" as it were wouldn't put him off at all. But rules were rules, even if this new partner kept dragging him into trouble.

For instance, she'd stumbled on her leg (it wasn't his fault that she'd come broken!) and almost attracted the attention of the one who had patrolled the boundaries earlier – but he caught her and, thankfully, she didn't. There it was, Zach to the rescue again, and no one ever thanked him, did they? Killed all these bad guy Killjoy types and what did he get? Not even a pat on the back (which was okay because his ribs were about three inches too close to poking straight through his esophagus anyway after the last cliff dive he'd accidentally taken).

Zach tensed automatically as he heard movement behind him. He glanced up to see whether his partner – Valory, actually – had sensed it too. She looked oblivious so, probably not. Slowly, he craned his neck (he was getting roughly 150 degree angles these days – ever since he snapped the majority of the bone out) to check out the scenario.

A small, boxy green car was sending red dirt flying into the air about a mile away, tearing toward them at speeds that never would have been allowed when he was alive (and definitely not when he was Mayor of this damn town, either, thank you very much). It was, by his count, roughly point five of a second before it swung to a messy stop, barely avoiding a collision with the building's otherwise graffiti-scarred face.

A young girl clambered out of the driver's seat – what was left of a seat – as soon as the engine cut. She put her hands on her knees for a second, unaware she was being watched, and fought to catch her breath. Her face was flushed with red and – and then she was gone. A flash of grey as Valory leapt at her, clawed at her neck. The girl yelped, more out of anger than fright, Zach thought, as her back hit solid ground.

"VALORY!" he croaked, "VALORY! STOP – WRONG KILLJOY!"

But she either couldn't, or wouldn't hear him.

The bar's door opened merely seconds later, and Valory's body suddenly started jerking and twitching on the ground.

Zach pulled his own gun – a pathetic weapon, but the only one at hand – aimed and fired . One of their own fell just Valory had, though if it were fatal he couldn't tell before he was scampering to his feet and running toward them. He supposed they'd seen him now. Oops.

The girl – dark hair, black vest, yellow shirt (he noted) kicked his partner out the way forcefully and grabbed the one Valory had taken down. Looked up at the other, taller one – a man – before half-dragging, half-walking her inside.

He got a clear view of the one he'd shot still rolling on the ground – leg hit, what a shame, he'd have to kill her after.

But for now, the only one that remained standing – the guy with, he noticed, a much more powerful looking gun than he had – was the trouble he was in.

"What's your name?" Danger flinched there was a flash of light fluorescent outside, but didn't look away from the beat up Killjoy sitting on the barstool in front of her. She looked at Danger and snapped a chip in her mouth.

"Racheal," she said nonchalantly. "Yours?"

"Danger."

"Real name?"

"Forgot it a long time ago."

Racheal nodded.

Danger paused for a second and glanced up toward the window. She stood up and slunk toward the front door. Leaning on the wall, she peered out and sighed. "Car." She closed her eyes for a second and then pressed off from the wall. Looking at Racheal, she ordered "You, stay there," and slid outside.

In the few seconds it had taken Danger to bark some orders at Racheal and negotiate the door, things had escalated. She blinked at the scene before her. Two dead Zombies. And a third – who had just stumbled out of her car. In front of the newcomer stood Kev on one side and Caitlin next to him. Kev pressed a shiny black ray gun to her head – hitting a spot on her forehead right next to where the tip of Caitlin's red ray gun dug into her skin. She held up both of her arms, a ray gun in each, and each ray gun pressed at one of the two Killjoys' head. Like one big violent, fatal embrace.

Danger blinked again. "Whassup guys?"


	2. Part Two

**Part Two: Vampire Money **

"May I kindly suggest that you lower your weapon?" Danger asked coldly. She stood stock still a few paces away from the Zombie and stared icily at her. The Zombie's jet black eyes refused to move from the two armed Killjoys until she heard a low 'click' as Danger took the safety off of her own bright blue ray gun and raised it in the air.

"Three to one," she taunted. "You choose."

After a moment of hesitation, the Zombie lowered her guns away from Caitlin and Kevin's heads and held them at her sides.

"Good choice." Caitlin growled without moving her own weapon. "Who are you?"

"My name is Jenny. You could say I'm in charge around these parts," she spat. "Who are you?"

Caitlin smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Well, to be honest, she probably already did know.

Danger lowered her gun slowly, and the other Killjoys took the 'click' of her putting the safety back on as their signal to do the same. "Now," she said with a cheesy cheeriness. "What's all this about then?"

Jenny glanced at both of the Zombies laying dead on the dry, hot dirt. She looked back up at Caitlin. "One of the Draculoids you shot this morning was very closely affiliated with our group – "

Kevin glared at the Zombie with fire in his eyes, tightening his grip on his gun. A small frown possessed Danger's face.

"I am afraid that we are unable to let that one go," she turned now to look at Danger. "However, we would happily bargain a deal with you after which, if you went through with your end, we could call our teams equal of score."

Danger raised her eyebrow. "What would that be?"

Sunlight threatened to break the shadow that Racheal was hiding in beside the bar's solid front door. The oak was thick enough to stop her from hearing whatever was going on outside, but if she tilted her head to the side, she could see past the patches of dirt caked onto the window.

She saw Danger nod reluctantly, and the Killjoy that had been shot in the ambush was standing now, looking very angry and ready to draw her ray gun at any moment. They man who had shot the Zombie off of her was, by now, half way across what would have once been the bar's parking lot, stabbing agitatedly at the dirt with the tip of his steel cap boot.

Racheal squinted as Danger stepped forward and shook hands with the Zombie, and Caitlin finally relaxed a little and put her gun away. The other guy didn't even bother turning around, but kicked angrily at the red dirt.

Racheal slid out of the shadow and scurried back to her bar stool as the Killjoys turned back toward the bar and the Zombie strode back toward her car.

"Hi," Racheal greeted them sheepishly as Caitlin pushed her way through the heavy door, trailed by Danger and a fuming Kevin.

"What's up." Caitlin nodded.

"Racheal, this is Caitlin and Kevin," Danger told her distractedly without really looking in her direction.

Racheal watched as Caitlin silently placed her dusty ray gun down upon the bar top. She scooped her hair up into a messy pony tail and secured it with one of the colorful bands around her wrist.

"Well," said the third Killjoy once Kevin had glared angrily at Danger for long enough. "I guess we have some packing to do."

"Are you a fucking idiot?" Kev demanded wildly as Danger messily shoved some spare clothes into her duffel bag. She could hear Racheal and Caitlin chatting as they packed weapons in one of the side rooms, and Danger avoided eye contact with him as she grabbed a blanket off of the bar and pushed it into her bad.

"We had to do it. Any chance to save the world, right?"

"You just made a deal with a goddamn Zombie – for all you know, they'll turn on you and kill you before you even get there."

"Maybe," she shrugged. She paused for a moment, searching for that feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her she would care if this happened. She found hollowness in its place. "But they've got a Nuke. We have to try." She grabbed a photo frame and laid it on top inside her bag before zipping it up. "Besides, you've dealt with the Zombies before – they'd have it in for us forever if we didn't go along with it, and even we can't run forever."

"Yeah but we take some fucking Zombies." he spat. "You're talking about taking down a whole god damn organization of Dracs!"

"She said there were only a few. Rogues. We'll do it." She spoke the words without confidence.

"Yeah," he replied distantly. "Maybe you will."

Danger turned and stared at him for a moment. She saw decisiveness in his eyes. "Then you stay and look after the 'house' for us," she tried not so sound angry, but she was. "Get Caitlin for me? The two of us need to make a plan."

"Alright, so when we infiltrate, we'll have to know the place like the back of our hands," Danger told them, tapping her pen on an empty page of dirty notebook paper.

Racheal raised her eyes to glance out of the window above the bar. "Dark's creeping in," she noted. "If we gotta do it, we have to get in early. Move by morning."

Danger looked up at her, nearly surprised. "We?"

"You, me, Caitlin and Kevin…"

Danger shook her head, "You're not coming with us."

"Uh, yes I am." Racheal said, insulted. "The more of us, the easier it will be."

"It's going to be really easy when you get your head ripped off by a Drac," Danger's voice rose. She took a moment and sighed, "look, we've known you for five minutes. We've never seen you fight. Me and Caitlin don't have enough fire power to protect ourselves and you if you get in trouble. I'm not going to have your blood on my hands. If you want to stay, fine. Stay here with Kevin. But you're not coming with us."

Racheal opened her mouth to shout back, but Caitlin cut her off. "We're going to have to know out way around, like you said. If we go in dressed as in Integrated Drac, it'll look kind of sus if we can't even find the ladies room."

Racheal sighed and bit back everything she actually wanted to yell at them. "Wouldn't it be easier to go in as a new recruit? Then you can act as lost as you want."

"Brain washing," Caitlin answered simply. "As awesome as we are, no one can make it through that still thinking like a Killjoy."

"Might still not make it like a Killjoy." Danger mumbled darkly.

They stayed silent for a moment.

It was Caitlin who broke the silence again. "What do we do once we get in there. Find the nuke and disarm it? Kill the Dracs, and go?"

"If we can, perfect." Danger told her. "But I think from the point that we infiltrate the building, we'll just have to play it by ear. That Jenny chick said it was only a few rogue Dracs that's she'd found out about, so they should be relatively easy to get. If we can get past everyone else."

Caitlin's eyes looked haunted as she slumped down in her chair.

Jenny glared out of the windscreen of her sleek car as she sped along, the desert whirring past her must faster than it should be. "Target locked," she said coldly into the wireless receiver in her dash board as she pressed her foot harder against the accelerator. "Tell the Dracs that they are coming."

"Over and out," a voice crackled from the other side.

Aadya groaned as her cell phone blurted out a distorted tune to wake her up. She rolled over in her sleeping back, catching her left foot on the fabric and tangling it behind her right leg. She blindly grappled for her cell phone in the tufts of grass beside where she lay beneath the stars, drew it to her ear and, eyes still closed, answered it groggily, "Talk."

"Aadya?"

She opened both her eyes and stared up at the sky. "Danger? Long time no talk, Killjoy!"

Instead of friendly and at ease, her friend sounded distracted, "Listen, where are you?"

"Uhmm…" she thought for a second, looking around. "Middle of zone one."

"Can you get to zone three?"

"You know I don't zonehop anymore. Too dangerous."

"It's important," Danger hesitated. "I'll tell you when you get here."

Aadya closed her eyes in defeat and sighed, "When?"

"Sun up?"

She heard Danger begin to say something else as she hung up.


	3. Part Three

From the passenger seat, Danger watched scenery whip past them like it had someplace much better to be. Caitlin flicked the windscreen wipers on for a moment to remove from the windscreen the innards of a bug that had encountered the misfortune of colliding with them. She didn't bother to watch as its legs tangled in the wiper blade, but seconds later the windscreen was clear spare for one small smudge of insides. The car was silent as the speedometer sailed past one hundred and fifty five miles per hour.

Caitlin planted her foot down on the accelerator, and to mask the silence that meant they were all dreading the adventure they were taking, Danger reached forward the turned the radio on. Seconds after she'd pushed the button, it screamed back at them: "We'll never go home! I've got nothing to lose, you've got nothing to say and we're leaving today. We'll never go home!"

The song ended there, and their ears were greeted with a warmly familiar voice as it flooded the empty air space. "Looks like Killjoys in zones one through two had better watch their backs today. Rampant security, if you're picking up what I'm putting down. And here's a message from our sponsors…"

Aadya slammed shut the car's back door as Caitlin killed the engine in front of a gas pump.

"How much?" she asked boredly, looking briefly toward Caitlin who answered with a quick, "Five."

Without another word, Aadya strode toward the small building. As the automatic doors lid open, the icy air conditioning hit her like a bullet. The entire building was painted white inside – a Bloody Living Industries trademark, she thought – and combined with the room temperature, it was like walking into a hospital. Or maybe a morgue.

Hundreds of plain, black and white label tins lined the back walls, and Aadya grabbed a white shopping basket from the stack beside the door and bee-lined for them. She piled six in the basket – enough to keep them going on the trip, at least. She glanced around quickly and pulled down three clear bottles of Water Co. liquid – not many places in her zone had any of those left. She put them in the basket as well, and glanced out through the clear front wall to see Caitlin leaning against the passenger side door, staring into the horizon.

Reveling in the coolness of the air, she meandered toward the front counter, and laid down her basket carefully. The Worker 'Droid behind it looked up at her and smiled, although it looked pained. She noticed the rings beneath its eyes – which were dull, and well below the technological standard of the day – and where the synthetic hair atop it's stainless steel scalp was coming off in tufts. When it went to grab the items from the basket, it moved slowly as though it hurt to do so.

"How are you today, m'am?" it asked politely.

"Good," she smiled and lied. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know," it tried to force a smile on to its painted lips. "Still pushing on!"

She half smiled at it sympathetically.

"I must warn you, m'am, if you plan to cross the interzone – things are not too… happy out there in Zone Two the moment."

"Yes," she nodded. "Heard it on the airwaves. Any idea what's actually happening up there?"

It shook its head apologetically. "No. Will that be all for today?"

"Oh," she thought for a second. "And 500 carbons of gas, too."

It glanced out the window quickly at their car and keyed it in to the computer. She frowned. The Worker 'Droids in Zone Three had been connected via USB 9.2 to the computer systems. This 'Droid was easily three years old.

"Okay, that will be four hundred carbons."

She looked at it confused, but it winked and simply said, "You said hello to me. You are very kind."

Aadya smiled warmly and put a handful of notes down on the counter top.

It gave her the items in a bag and said sincerely, "You have a nice day now."

She grinned back at it, "You too."

By the time Aadya returned to the car, Caitlin had already climbed into the passenger seat, and Danger was kicking the engine on. Aadya slid into the back seat, handed them each a bottle of Water Co., and put the bag on the seat beside her.

They took off once more as the radio sang, "Can you save yourself tonight?"

Caitlin strained to read a sign ahead of them on the road, 'Thank you for visiting Zone Three. We hope you enjoyed your stay. Now entering Zone Two. Have a lovely day.'

"Oh, we're sure to," she said sarcastically.

"Ah, great," Danger slammed her hand down on the steering wheel as a pair of workers flagged them down. "Border control."

Caitlin opened her window as the car rolled to a stop next to one of them. "What can we do for you?"

"We need you to step out of your vehicle for a routine inspection,"

Caitlin looked at Danger, who glanced at Aadya in the rear view mirror. No one moved.

He pulled his ray gun from its holster. "Please?"

They sighed and reluctantly got out of the car.

The two men that had stopped them were dressed in dusty blue overalls. They looked nearly identical, though the slightly taller one had a name tag stuck to his chest. It read, 'Max.' The other, Danger soon noticed, had the name 'Ayid' embroidered onto his uniform in black cotton.

"Do you have any weapons in the vehicle?" Max asked, pacing in front of them.

"Really?" Danger sighed exasperatedly, "We're Killjoys – what do you think?"

Max began, "I think – "

"We're going to have to take a look for ourselves." Ayid finished.

The pair walked toward the car, and, with eyebrows raised, Danger looked at Caitlin as if to say, 'that was weird, right?'

"Are these yours?" Ayid asked holding up the two duffel bags that had been resting on the tattered back seat. Full of weapons, great. Danger winced.

"No, they're Santa's," Caitlin called out to them sarcastically. "We're keeping them safe for him until Christmas."

Max raised his eyebrow at his colleague (and possible twin). Ayid quickly emptied their contents on the dirt below them. He knelt down and began to rifle through the pile of their belongings.

"HEY!" Caitlin made toward them angrily, her eyes full of lightning.

Max moved in front of his friend and raised up his ray gun. "Don't come closer," he advised calmly.

Danger grabbed Caitlin roughly by the sleeve and pulled her back as they watched Ayid admiring their ray guns. Max turned around momentarily, tugging a blue shopping bag from his overalls pocket. He shook it to open it up, and threw it down on the ground in front of Ayid. He stashed the guns inside.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Aadya yelled.

Danger closed her eyes tightly. "This is not our week, is it?"

Suddenly, Caitlin pulled forward against Danger's grip, and pelted toward the pair, aiming straight for Max. He fired a gun shot but missed her entirely, and with her momentum she landed on top of him and tackled him straight to the ground. Aadya quickly followed suit as Max began swinging back at Caitlin violently, smashing her in the head with the butt of his gun.

Danger swore, rolled her eyes and made toward Ayid at full speed. He stayed leaning protectively over his loot, and, prepared as she came near, swung out with his own ray gun and sent her clattering to the dirt a few paces away, unmoving.

- WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULAR VIEWING SERVICE TO BRING YOU THIS SHOCKING FOOTAGE—

There were people bustling around the office, dead eyed like drones. No one spoke. No one blinked. All there was to be heard was the rickety rickety, tap tap tap of calloused fingers hitting keyboards at unbelievable speeds. Row after row of people sat staring at computer screens with welling red eyes. Above their heads on the very back wall was a logo that read 'Better Living Industries.'

The P.A. system buzzed, but nobody looked away from their computer screens.

"Good morning, workers," it cackled. "We thank you for your service throughout the night. Please repeat after me: "I am happy."

"I am happy," went the chorus.

"I love my job." it span, and they repeated.

Except one person. A man with jet black hair. A red beam illuminated on their head.

One second later, there's a hold in his head.

Everyone keeps typing.


	4. Part Three Point Five

"Ughh." Danger groaned, blinking dust out of her eyes. Her mind was blank; her wrist ached and there was a sharp pain in her lower back. Despite this, she stretched her neck up to look around her.

"Caitlin?" she asked hoarsely, glimpsing at her friend's body sprawled lifeless across the dirt. Caitlin didn't open her eyes, but coughed back, "Yeah?"

"Aadya?" Danger prompted.

"'m 'ere," she mumbled back, from somewhere on the ground next to Caitlin.

A few moments passed in silence.

"We're so utterly fucked." Danger let her head fall back to the ground.

Aadya dusted clouds of dirt off of the leg of her jeans as Danger dabbed an old rag on the bleeding part of her temple. She spat angrily, "Great! So now we can't even trust our own kind? How the hell are we going to get to the Dracs now?"

"At least we have the car." Caitlin sighed.

Aadya stepped backwards and slammed the trunk closed. "Everything's gone," She said, holding up two empty, torn bags and an empty, dented bottle of Water Co.

"Fuckers," Danger cussed.

"We'd better get out of here," Caitlin looked at Danger and confirmed, "I'll drive."

Danger shrugged and swung open the passenger side door, holding the rag firmly to her temple as she stepped in. Caitlin joined her in the front of the car moments later and kicked the engine in as Aadya slid into the back seat.

Instead of the gentle hum of the engine starting, there was nothing. She flicked the ignition again.

When nothing happened the second time, Aadya pushed herself out of the car again. Caitlin hit the button to release the hood cover, but within moments Aadya was slamming it shut again. She walked around and leant in through Caitlin's open driver's side window.

"They took the battery, too."


	5. Part Four

**Part Four: Burial Rights (Killjoys Don't Get Funerals) **

Zone Two was nice. If you weren't bothered by the murderers and rapists, it was better than nice.

So maybe it wasn't a place to visit when weapon-less.

Caitlin retrieved three of the tattered bags out of the trunk and handed one to each of the other two Killjoys. Danger tossed her rag onto the ground and took the bag. A cloud of dust rose up and sunk into the not yet dry patch of blood and created a sticky, bloody, mud stain. The gash on her temple was red with smudges of blood and her newly settled scab looked more like red jelly setting on her face than a wound clotting up. She slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and looked at the road ahead of them.

It wasn't so much a road as it was a dirt track with rocks around its edges. There was nothing in the visible distance but waves of heat and dust clouds.

Caitlin tapped the hood of the car in a 'farewell' gesture, a grim look on her face as she too surveyed the walk ahead.

"Sorry old girl,' Aadya mumbled to the car, "You served us well. But this where our story together ends."

She turned away from the car and rested her left hand on the strap of the duffle bag she carried on her shoulder. "So where to now?" she asked as they began slowly walking.

"God knows," Danger replied. "I guess into town is the safest way. Maybe someone could give us a ride?"

"To Battery City? I doubt it. Not a lot of zonehoppers these days, for that exact reason," Aadya nodded back toward the car.

Danger nodded. "So how have you been, anyway? It's been so long and I didn't even ask you before."

Aadya shrugged as she kicked up some dust with her boot. "Alright. I mean, Killjoying isn't exactly a pro ball career, no one wants to do it these days. I get but, but… well, you would know."

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed. "We do."

"It's all kill, kill, kill and literally no 'joy' these days. Remember when we'd actually get to have fun every now and then?" Aadya almost smiled in reminiscence. "Before travelling in groups became illegal – not that we exactly care, obviously."

"What are they going to do? Lock us up? Free shelter and food? I hope they do." Danger smirked.

"Hang on…" Caitlin trailed off.

Danger glanced over at her.

"I think I know where we can go."

"Enlighten us?"

Caitlin cracked a wry grin, "Remember Tommy Chow Mein? The arms dealer we met a couple weeks ago out on the border?"

Danger thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

"We dated a couple of times. Last I heard he was out by the burnt down hospital out here dealing - creepy fudger. I bet he'd be real glad to see us, though…"

"Caitlin Dow! Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

"Depends… do you think I'm suggesting going and stealing from him?"

"Actually, yes."

"Well, then." She grinned. "You would be right."

"Tommy!" Caitlin tried her best to sound surprised. "Hi! How are you?"

"Caitlin?" he looked up from rearranging some ray guns at his lonely little stall beside the East Wing of the hospital.

"Yeah! You're looking well. These are my two friends, Danger and Aadya!"

Danger fought back a chuckle as Caitlin nonchalantly freed her hair of its pony tail and whipped it around a little.

Tommy looked at the two girls over the top of his sunglasses. This was their cue to grin madly back at him and say, "Hi!"

"Well, hello there…" he stopped for a second, and then seemed to remember business. "What can I do for you ladies?"

"Oh, nothing," Caitlin flipped her hair back over her shoulder. "We were just passing through… wanted to come and see you, and, well, you know!" she giggled girlishly.

"Oh, I'm so glad you did…"

Caitlin caught a glimpse of the car pulled up a few yards behind his stall in the parking lot. "Wait…" she said, "Is that your car?" And she was waltzing over to the car before he could even reply. Predictably, Chow Mein followed her like a lost little puppy dog.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" he asked when they reached the car. And old Trans Am, and a pristinely clean black Trans Am at that.

"Beautiful?" Caitlin repeated, her voice a whole pitch higher. "Mind if I sit in her?"

He smiled, "Go right ahead."

- by the stall –

Danger watched as Tommy turned his back on them.

Silently, the pair opened up their bags and began to carefully scoop weapons from the table and stash them inside. Danger grinned when she came across a bright blue ray gun – one whole model newer than hers – and threw it in, too.

- car –

"Why don't you turn it on to hear her purr?"

"That sounds great…"

Tommy pulled the keys from his pocket and jingled them in front of her through the open driver's side door. She took them gracefully and smiled a thank you as she slipped them into the ignition and got the engine purring. "Wow!"

"Sweet ride," Danger said sweetly as the other two Killjoys approached. "Mind if we get in, too?"

"Go right ahead." Tommy smiled. And, Caitlin was right, Aadya thought – Tommy Chow Mein was a creeper.

Danger shuffled into the back seat, while Aadya took the passenger's side in the front. They both settled their bags in by their feet and smiled to themselves.

Caitlin revved the engine, making Tommy smile again.

Then, her brow creased. She nodded back toward Tommy's stall. "Wait, is that… what is that over there?"

He turned to get a better look, and she slide the handbrake off.

"I can't see anything…" he told her, turning back.

Caitlin shrugged. "Probably nothing. Wait, this is the accelerator right?" she said loudly and planted her foot on top of it.

"LIKE TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY, CHOW MEIN!" she yelled through the door as the car took off. She giggled to herself and tugged the door shut, watching his confused expression.

"Well, this is awkward," Racheal said dryly with raised eyebrows.

Kevin grunted.

"HELLO?" came a disgruntled voice from outside.

They both looked up from staring at the bar, thought Kevin was the first to his feet. "You," he said quickly turning back to Racheal as he made for the door. "Stay here."

She sighed. "Why does everyone keep telling me that?"

Racheal stayed in her seat as Kevin slammed the front door shut. She couldn't hear much, just a vague echo of someone's voice.

She looked down at her hands on the bar top again. The bar mat beneath them was tattered as Hell – but hey, it was hard to buy a nice bar mat when you couldn't even get bottled water anymore.

Behind the bar sat a radio – some idjit had scrawled the word 'BOOM' on it and practically colored the speakers in, but hey. When she'd asked, Kevin had told her that they'd found it in the middle of Zone 6 months ago – just laying on the floor next to an open locket. They'd left the locket there – a picture of some kid with 'bushy hair' and her mother on the other side – and taken the radio before someone came back for it. Good to keep up with the news, you know? She reached behind the bar to grab it.

Apart from a dent in one of the speaker covers, it wasn't really in bad condition, except the tuning dial was broken.

Racheal looked up suddenly. She couldn't hear much, just a vague echo of someone's voice, until she could hear someone's yell.

She put the radio down and ran to the door.

"This how you killed my Dad?" The boy was only a teenager – seventeen at the most. His skin was peeling off of his face, though, deep enough that, when she got there, Racheal could see his cheekbone. He held Kevin, bleeding from the mouth, in a head lock with a shiny black ray gun to his head. He pulled the trigger and bolt of silver light ran into the man's neck. The boy let him go, and he slid lifeless to the ground.

"KEVIN!" Racheal rushed to him. Her cheeks were wet.

"No hard feelings!" the boy smirked, and walked away.

- LATER -

Danger held her stomach, laughing so much that breath hitched painfully in her throat. "I can't believe the expression on his face when we took off with his car!"

And Aadya was in much the same condition. "I wonder when he'll figure out we took his weapons, too?"

"Men!" Caitlin giggled, staring into the campfire they'd set up for themselves.

"God," Danger sobered from laughing. "You gotta admit, THAT was fun."

"You really do," Aadya smiled back. "So how far away from Battery City do you think we are?"

Caitlin shrugged, the happiness sinking from her eyes. "We'll be there by nightfall tomorrow."

Which really meant, 'this could be our last night.' And they knew it as they all three watched the campfire burn up its life.


	6. Part Five

Plan A?

Get the Hell out before the Zombie decided there were hard feelings.

The sun had started to hide itself while Racheal emptied the bar of any sign that someone had lived there before. Racheal stumbled through the door with a handful of possessions –empty ray gun cases and a few cans of Power Pup. Something like guilt stirred in the pit of her stomach to be taking them out to her car, but she ignored it as she ran past Kevin's limp body on the ground.

Killjoys didn't get funerals: they usually just rotted where they fell.

Racheal climbed into the passenger seat and lay her ray gun on the passenger's seat. She was about to pull her door closed when the shadow of a shiny black gun caught in the corner of her eye. She hesitated a moment, and pushed herself out of the car. Warily, she edged toward Kevin's body, her hands shaking and sickness rising in her gut.

The Zombie had thrown Kevin's gun just out of what his reach would have been, and staying as far away as possible, Racheal reached in to grab it. Her fingers grappled for the gun for a moment before she secured it, took one last look at Kevin, and made for the car.

Aadya rubbed the back of her neck and winced painfully as she tried to stretch out the constricted muscles. "I swear," she sighed staring in to the sun. "I'll never get used to this."

"Oh, stop you're complainin'!" Danger replied dramatically as she pulled tight the laces of her boots, sitting on the slightly burnt log next to Aadya. "Today is a big day."

"You're telling me."

"Alright," Caitlin said loudly, striding up behind them. "Once we hit up Battery City, we should be able to locate Better Living HQ fairly easily. Scope the place out and find our… disguises," she dusted her hands off on her jeans and sat down next to them.

"I hate to be a downer," Danger started, "But I just wanted to say to you both, if we don't make it – "

"Can it, Killjoy," Aadya ordered. "No one wants to hear that shit."

- BL/IND HQ, 08:00 HOURS -

"Everything is in order, m'am."

Somewhere, a phone rang.

"The boy?"

"He is dead. The child of the Zombie who was killed on patrol at their location was more than pleased to help. A Draculoid was sent to confirm this itself. It should be back any minute now."

"The Killjoys?"

"On their way."

"The staff?"

"Briefed. They understand the plan."

She smiled, though it was forced. "Very good, Matthew."

He bowed his head and scurried out of the room. Black Widow leant back in her padded office chair and pulled her thin lips into a smile.

- 12:00 HOURS -

Danger fired her ray gun right into the Draculoid's head. Caitlin and Aadya were already stripping the uniforms from the two that they had killed, and sliding the white suits on over their own clothes.

Caitlin slid the Drac mask over her head, "How do I look?"

"Snazzy," Aadya replied as Danger shimmied into the uniform white suit. "How about me?"

"Ditto," Caitlin told her as she readjusted her boots. She stood up and looked toward Danger, "You ready?"

Danger nodded, sliding the Drac mask over her head. "As I'll ever be. You?"

"Not at all." she replied, stashing her newly acquired ray gun in the shadows behind the oversized rubbish bin at the side of the building. "And now I feel naked," she looked down at the costume she wore. A baggy white suit that left everything to the imagination and a pair of heavy black boots. "But somehow very overdressed."

Aadya shrugged and hid her gun with Caitlin's. She leant over her dead Draculoid, frowning as she padded down its waistline to find it's shiny black Better Living Industries issued ray gun. Pulling it out from under the Drac, she examined it in the sun. The handle read 'Frangos,' and she wondered what the Hell kind of Draculoid name that was. Shrugging, she shoved it into the holster she'd tied around her own waist.

The first thing Danger noticed about the Better Living Industries building was the temperature. It was so cold that her bones began to ache, and it was so quiet that it almost made her ears ring. Blurs of white suited workers hurried everywhere with their heads down, defeated, and the hum of telephones wafted through the concourse.

They all three felt a bolt of electricity shoot through them when, as they were looking around the building with wide eyes, a shrill siren pierced the silence. Suddenly, it was as though magnets were attracting the Dracs all in one direction. They joined the shuffle toward a row of security gates that protected the rest of the building from intruders (such as themselves).

The Dracs are processed quickly – ID scan here, retina recognition system there. It didn't take long before the three Killjoys were next in line to the throne. Heart racing, Caitlin stepped up to the plate. She wanted to yell and hiss at the Draculoids that grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her up, but no one else was doing this so she feared she might look a bit conspicuous. Instead, she made a mental note to kick their sorry asses for that, later.

Danger held her breath as she watched the Dracs take her friend up to the scanner. It almost exploded in her chest when the sirens above the stall in which Caitlin stood started to scream.

Shit.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come."

"Uh, ma'am?" A young man smiled uncertainly. "Mr. Korse sent me to tell you that they have arrived."

"Excellent," she said coldly. "Thank you. And the Drac to confirm the Zombie's action against the other man?"

"Hasn't reported back yet. But I will let you know as soon as I hear."

She nodded.


End file.
